TechPowerUp over the past 50-odd days surveyed our readers to understand if they're willing to pay premium for high-end factory overclocked graphics cards. This is especially important to know in the wake of GPU manufacturer MSRPs turning largely irrelevant, pushing even inexpensive non-OC cards with simpler designs way above the MSRP. We have also seen scenarios where certain GPUs are only sporadically available, and in some cases, only their premium factory-OC cards are. This would tell us if buyers are willing to pick up a premium OC graphics card if it's the only option available versus waiting for non-OC cards to become available at relatively lower prices.

Our survey gathered close to 21,000 responses. 46.4% of the responses (9,738 votes) say that they choose premium OC graphics cards, however, they do so only for the better cooling. Board partners tend to give their products premium cooling solutions to not just deal with the added heat from the OC, power-limits, and boost headroom; but also to offer low noise as a feature, besides other aesthetic touches such as RGB lighting or a premium appearance. The "Yes" option, which means that buyers want premium OC graphics cards for their superior performance, gathered an interesting 28.2% of the vote (5,908 votes). Lastly, only 25.4% (5,335 votes) say that they are not willing to pay for premium OC cards, and prefer cards either at or close to the MSRP.